Surrounded by his fellow officers, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper thanked his family, other law enforcement, his training and, most importantly, God during a press conference Saturday morning at East Texas Medical Center.

Trooper Steven Stone, 29, briefly talked about being shot Wednesday night when he made a traffic stop on Texas Highway 31 just east of Farm-to-Market Road 2908.

"First off I would like to thank God, because it is by his grace that I am alive," he said.

Stone was allegedly shot by Ramon Ramos, 37, and Francisco Saucedo, 38, both of Tulsa, Okla.

The trooper began to place Ramos under arrest when the man allegedly grabbed a handgun from the waistband of his jeans and fired at the trooper point-blank.

Saucedo then reportedly got out of the passenger side of the pickup and fired several more shots. Stone fell to the ground and rolled into a ditch.

After the suspects fled the scene, Stone made it back to his patrol car and radioed for help, giving a description of the men and their pickup.

Smith County deputies who quickly arrived on the scene loaded Stone into their car and took him to the hospital.

"I'd like to thank the Smith County sheriff's deputies and I want to thank Deputy Brian Allison immensely," he said.

Sheriff J.B. Smith had said earlier that an EMT-certified deputy had administered first aid to the lawman en route to the hospital.

VEST SAVES LIFE

Dr. Stephen Rowe, ETMC trauma surgeon, said Stone suffered four to five gunshots at close range, but a potentially fatal gunshot was deflected by the trooper's vest.

"We are issued protective vests and it is my policy to always put on my vest," Stone said.

Rowe said one gunshot was to the left side of the chest, one missed his trachea by less than a centimeter, and one went into the shoulder. There were also several graze wounds.

"When he thanked God earlier, he was right. He is very fortunate to be alive," he said. "The vest stopped a bullet that would have gone into the lung and quite possibly have hit the heart."

Rowe said Stone faced months of physical therapy and possibly additional surgery, but the doctor said he believed the trooper would make a full recovery.

"It will be a good couple of months before he has full use of his left arm," he said.

Stone said he is getting stronger, but knows he has a long road ahead of him.

"Right now I will admit I'm pretty sore, but I feel better than I did a few days ago," he said.

While Stone was receiving medical attention, Ramos and Saucedo were spotted by a citizen who had heard about the incident on a police scanner.

The man called police and reported he thought the suspects were at a meat market on South Beckham Avenue.

After spotting police, the two men fled and engaged in a gunbattle with Tyler police officers during a pursuit that ended when the suspects hit another motorist on Texas Highway 64 East.

Both men, who were wearing body armor and armed with multiple weapons, were taken into custody and transported to Tyler hospitals.

Police officials said the occupants of the other vehicle were uninjured.

Ramos and Saucedo remain in the Smith County Jail charged with 14 counts of aggravated assault on a public servant and are being held on bonds totaling $23 million each.

"Every officer in the back of their mind knows this can happen, but they think, 'It will never happen to me.' It just happened so quickly," Stone said. "It is a huge relief to know they are off the streets and can't hurt anyone else."

"To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic." --Ted Nugent

Originally Posted By rjay:We need to double the number of cops on the payroll countrywide and have two in every squad car.

Most agencies could actually save money by doing away with specialty units like Motors, DARE/Community programs and going to two man cars at night. It results in significantly lower equipment costs and workers comp costs.

ok well just stop telling our children to stay off of drugs and stop the community policing movement that has been sucessfully in effect since the 80's. well just make everyone go back to not trusting the cops.

Please, DARE isnt worth a shit. When I was in Jr High, we were rolling our eyes during DARE programs, counting the minutes till school was over, so we could go hit a doob at a friends house. In high school, it was the same way, but I wasnt involved in that shit anymore. So please, get real about DARE. I bet you think McRuff the crime dog is successful too.

Originally Posted By rjay:We need to double the number of cops on the payroll countrywide and have two in every squad car.

Most agencies could actually save money by doing away with specialty units like Motors, DARE/Community programs and going to two man cars at night. It results in significantly lower equipment costs and workers comp costs.

Two man cars on occasion and in high crime area is a fine idea. When you ride double all of the time though, it gets old real quick.

As much as I dont care for the majority of LEOs, I detest anyone that shoots at them. I mostly respect the uniform. But I also know that they have a job to do and asshats like these 2 make our (law abiding people) dealings with LEO that much worse.

Trooper Stone is a member of my church. He was looking good on Sunday and seemed to be in fair spirits considering what happened. His vest almost assuredly saved his life.

These idiots drove into downtown Tyler after they shot Trooper Stone. Downtown Tyler is where the Sherriff's office and the tyler PD is located. Needless to say they were spoted and a chase quickly began. Unfortunately they made it out of the car wreck alive......